Sprouting Wings
by eunmih
Summary: Levi always thought that in order to feel alive he'd have to break the rules, he felt like a bird in a cage whenever he was stuck with doing what was right. However, his perspective changes when he meets Eren, someone who will give him the excitment his life needed. (College) Levi & (High School) Eren! Present Time AU in Levi's POV. (Might contain other pairings.)


**Sprouting Wings**

_**Chapter 1**_

Life always seemed pretty dull to me. Sometimes, I'd get the feeling that doing the right thing was wrong and doing the wrong thing was right. This might be because 'excitement' was something that keeping up with the rules never brought. If I wanted to feel one little bit alive, then I'd have to break through what was considered correct. This was probably my life's motto for a long time, until a certain son of a bitch I highly respect decided to get me on the right track once more.

Before I noticed it, I had finished high school and was on my way to a prestigious university to take on the Law course. I don't particularly like Law, for a couple of reasons that might not be too hard to understand considering my patterns of thinking, but I did the favor of doing the right thing. Not for myself, but for those who had expectations of me.

So now, I was pretty much done. I was already in my fourth year – that despite being the last was the easiest of the four – ready to indulge in a life I wasn't quite certain about. I never really thought of myself as a lawyer or a judge and definitely not a person of politics. It was not in my character to do those jobs, despite me having a rather sharp tongue when needed and a reply always under the sleeve. Therefore, above all, my future job was a hanged subject I tried not to discuss unless someone jumped into it.

"So what kind of jobs can you do with a Law degree?" Hanji asked me as she fixed her glasses.

I rolled my eyes and leaned back on my chair. Starbucks was overflowing at that hour and the crowd was making me upset. Plus, talking about such a delicate subject under these circumstances made my stomach flip. Accordingly, I threw her my most unhappy expression. "I really don't want to talk about that right now."

Hanji contorted her face. "You never want to talk about it, Levi."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "What's with the face, taking a dump?"

"Levi!" A sigh escaped through her lips and I saw her lean above our table and look at me above her glasses. "Erwin is worried about you and so am I. It's about time you start considering your future, the end of the second semester is about to hit and, after the exams, you graduate. Show a bit of concern." She warned.

My eyes probably glinted, because I saw her retreat in defense. "I don't want to hear that coming from you, four-eyes." Crossing my legs, as I usually would when I was in one of those moments I felt superior to everyone around me, I gawked at the brunette in front of me. "If Erwin is worried, then he better come talk to me face to face." I wasn't going to listen to him anyway. "I don't think I need an owl. This is not Muffin Potter and I am not Fungus Dumbledore."

Hanji snorted and threw her hands up. "Ok, I give up."

I grabbed my coffee and took a last sip, reaching out for my phone which was pulsating like a vibrating dildo in my jacket's pocket. I had to input the goddamned password more than once since I failed the first two tries. Swapping over the menu, I went to the mail box to see the message I'd gotten. Good morning, Levi. I wanted to know if you'd like to meet today to discuss the matters vis-à-vis our group job about Advanced Criminal Law. Please, text back if you want to come. Petra. I tried not to sigh and simply dropped my phone in my jacket's pocket once more. She'd sent me the exact same message the day before, wasn't she a bit persistent? Not that I minded her, she was a nice a girl. But I really wasn't in the mood to work on that goddamned project, not for that shitty teacher.

"So, Levi… Are you busy today?" The brunette asked me as she took out her wallet, probably getting ready to pay the bill.

I followed her example and also took out my wallet but she smiled at me saying she'd pay. "Not really…" I mumbled as I threw my things in my bag. "I only have classes at three, so I'm free for now."

Hanji smiled even wider. "Do you want to come with me to school?"

"Why would I want to go with you to school?" I asked in a rude tone.

"Well, it's my first day and I have to clean the lab, so I figured you'd want to come as well…" She was fidgeting and giving me looks as she spoke in a rather way too girly way. Knowing her as I did, I knew she was using the cleaning as a way to get me going along. This is the problem about childhood friends: they always know how to get to you.

I threw my head back in defeat. "Fine… But just because you'd probably leave the whole place full of dust and sneeze on me the next time we'd meet. Thus, I'll supervise your cleaning."

She clapped her hands together and got up to go pay the bill. Usually, you'd have to pay before getting your drinks or food, but Hanji always came up with weird excuses to why we should get our order first, pulling me as a newbie in the law department so she could go on with her theory on how you should only pay after getting your hands on the product.

Already in the car, she kept talking about how happy she was to be in the same school where she was previously a student. She kept saying that she couldn't thank Erwin enough for letting her stay and I just threw off a statement concerning Erwin's lack of competency regarding his workers, to what she got incredible mad at.

The school where Hanji would now work as a science teacher was not only her previous high school but also mine. Back then, Erwin was only a teacher and both Hanji and I pretty creepy students. Now, the blonde man was also the headmaster and Hanji was a full-fledged teacher, ready to engage in the worst life someone could ask for. As for me, I was almost done with university.

As our car entered the parking lot, my eyes caught a glimpse of the students gathering around their own vehicles. "Shitty brats, I wonder how they get such expensive cars."

"They don't. Their parents give them the expensive cars." Hanji replied to my non-existent question. "This is how it is nowadays."

"That's disgusting."

She parked right next to a Kia Forte EX 5-Door in a poor clay color. I couldn't help but smirk at how different that car was from the others, since it wasn't a car some stupid teenage would consider cool. My eyes quickly rolled to Hanji. "I think I know why you parked your Golf here…"

She punched my arm in a sloppy way. "Shut up, Levi. Let's go."

I followed her out and closed the car's door. As if I knew this was a procedure, I reminded Hanji to lock the wagon, something she clumsily thanked me for. I followed her inside the main building with a big zero painted on one of the walls. It was probably break time, since the students were all out of their classrooms. I took a peek at my watch to confirm and it was exactly ten o'clock.

"So, let's pay a visit to Erwin. He'll be glad to see you."

I grunted. "Weren't we here to clean you lab or something?"

"Levi, paying a visit won't hurt." She couldn't be more wrong about it.

As I walked beside her, I could feel the blunt stares on us. I gave back a few glares, since I didn't particularly like to be stared at, but didn't voice anything out. We ended up reaching what I guessed to be Erwin's classroom that morning and Hanji barged in before I had time to ask her to knock. I simply dropped my stare, not as a way of submission but as a simply I-don't-even-care attitude.

"Erwin, look who I brought with me – Oh!"

Her Oh! made me raise my eyes from the ground and lock them on the three figures ahead of me. Erwin was standing next to his desk, giving us a surprised look. Next to him, were two kids: one with a funny horse face and other with a wanna-pick-a-fight attitude.

"Hanji, Levi…" Erwin gasped and I guessed he was previously yelling at those two. "What brings you here?" He quickly composed himself and gave us his mister handsome smile, one I knew very well not to trust.

Hanji waved her hands. "Sorry, you were busy. We'll come back later."

"No, it's fine. I was already done." He said, turning to give a quick glare at the two brats. "And I hope I am also understood."

The guy with the horse face was the only one to reply. The other simply nodded and left after Erwin gave them permission to do so. As both of them passed by, I looked over the corner of my eye, only to catch two neat and clean turquoise orbs doing the exact same thing. Blinking was necessary, since for a second I was left wondering why I was feeling myself drown in such eyes. My head slightly turned to follow the gaze a bit more, but the contact was broken the moment the kid exited the classroom.

"Hanji, you start today, right?" Erwin asked in his usual tone. "And Levi… I'm surprised to see you here. How did Hanji convince you to come?"

I turned my head back in slow motion, still half drowsy. "I don't know. We were supposed to clean her lab." Instinct told me not to look directly at him.

"And we will, we will." Her hand was patting my shoulder in a very annoying way. "I just thought you two would like to see each other."

Erwin smiled and I shrugged. "How's university going?" He asked me while he fixed his things.

"I don't know. I feel like shitting myself all over it." I complained in monotone, somehow knowing it would set him off and cause me some inner despair.

A glare was thrown at me. "I suppose you'll finish this year…" It was Erwin's threatening voice.

I glared back. "Goddamn it, of course. I'm done with it, dad."

He sighed and Hanji laughed nervously. "I'm the one paying for your fees so I need to know, since you won't even contact me or drop by."

That tone of his was starting to get on my nerves, just like expected. My eyebrows almost met when I growled. "I'm glad to see you're fine, Erwin." My hands reached for my pockets and I looked at Hanji. "Let's go."

Hanji bowed her head to Erwin and left with me following her and not daring to listen to another worth coming from that man's mouth. This was exactly why I didn't want to see him.

"I thought you were over it…" Hanji mumbled as she rushed further into the building.

My eyes rolled. "I am over it. But that doesn't mean I don't hold any resentment towards him."

"He's not the only one to blame."

Damn, she was pushing it. I knew that. I knew it wasn't only his fault. I knew I was the one who led him but in the end it ended in the worst way I could have ever imagined. Facing him like this was troublesome because my pride was just bigger than me and I couldn't deal with it. If I had a weakness, he would be it.

Hanji threw the keys in the lab once she came in and placed her things above her future desk. "I'm not going to say I warned you…" She told me and I noticed pity in her voice.

"You already did." I replied, closing the door behind me. "I was stupid; I was kid ready to make mistakes. He was a bastard ready to take responsibility for the biggest mistake of my life. I didn't really give a fuck to who seduced who, but it was his fault… The only thing I am to blame is for allowing myself to get my pride crushed as if it was a peanut. He's trying to make up for it by paying the fees to college, but I couldn't care less. I'm using him for that and only that."

"Dare to talk like that about someone you once admired so much…"

"I still do, Hanji. And that's the thing. That's shit… I admire him as a man who can make it happen. Whatever he wants to happen; happens. But that's it. That was always it. Then, it happened… We had a thing, a fuck, whatever it was. And then, he simply discarded me, without completely letting me go. That's fucked up. I'm not some bird in a shitty cage." I walked along the room and stopped half way, looking at her. "I didn't love him or anything… I just had my pride shattered. And then he was still there, he still is, trying to pick up the pieces he threw on the floor. That's what upsets me. That's why I don't call him or answer him. That's why I don't visit."

Hanji sighed. "Are you sure about that? It's like you either want him in or out of your life."

"Not even in. I just want him out. But that's impossible because he clings. He feels responsible for me and he just shouldn't… He shouldn't. Either ways, I'm just going to use him."

"And that's it. You're going to use him and you're locked." She walked to me and looked down at my eyes. "You should just face it. It annoys you to be locked by someone who almost made you fall for him."

I stared at her for a while before turning my face to the window. "Add almost on that."

The rest of the morning was spent cleaning that goddamned room. While Hanji was pretending to fight the dust, I was having a hard time with the mold all over the window. I guessed it was because of how humid that place was, but I still warned Hanji to spray something on it from time to time or it would turn into a bacterial jungle.

We finished cleaning around lunch time; somehow discussing the matters about Erwin in a more paced way. She concluded I had a point but she also made it clear that she understood where Erwin was coming from. I really didn't give a shit and asked her to just drop it there. If things went as planned, I wouldn't have to worry about it for much longer. I'd be able to just flee from there and start fresh somewhere else.

When we exited the school building, Hanji invited me to join her for lunch. I asked her about what filthy junk she was going to devour and she simply told me there was a Subway nearby. I rolled my eyes over the thought but I couldn't just say no. We made our way back to the car and that was when I saw them again, the two shitty brats Erwin was scolding that morning.

The pretty-eyed kid was being held by raven girl with a rather passive expression, while the horse face was simply shouting some shit I couldn't quite comprehend. They seemed to be fighting and they were in the way.

"Jean, I'm going to break that face of yours!" The voice came like thunder and I was surprised such a pimp was the owner of it.

Jean, I guessed, threw the other his middle finger in a very disgusting way. "Suck it here, Eren! See if I care. It's none of your business anyway, so you might just fuck off."

I stopped, observing the bout, and then tossed Hanji a look. "Shouldn't you do something about this? I have a feeling the hot-blooded shit head is not joking."

Hanji, who was still probably processing the whole thing, shoved the car keys back in her wallet and approached the scene. "Hey, kids. Stop it, now." In my opinion she wasn't abrasive enough but the unknown presence made both of them snap, so that was ok.

"Who the hell are you?" Jean, I still supposed, eyed my friend from toe to hair.

The pretty-eyed brat was still trashing around, trying to get loose, but the grip of the girl around his arms seemed to be too strong.

Another kid emerged from behind Jean and I guess he was probably the reason why they were fighting. It wasn't hard to guess, they didn't strike me as straight – and I had a nature to guess these things. Well, not really. I just noticed how the new appearance seemed to be clinging to Jean horse face's shirt.

"Eren, it's ok. It's not what you think…" The blonde kid said.

"The hell it's not! How can you even trust him?" The brunette was growling more than before.

"Well, maybe because I'm not some son of a bitch!" That one probably hit hard since the last thing I saw was Eren, I guessed, freeing his right arm and throwing it straight at Jean's face. The horse face stumbled back and hit his back against Hanji's car, making the alarm shout as a rat.

"That's enough!" Hanji threw off in a louder tone that surprised everyone, even me. "I'm calling the principal right now! You better not touch each other anymore or you'll have a piece of me as well!" With that, she shut down her car's alarm and threw me a glare. "Levi, watch over them. No one leaves." And with this, she stomped back into the building.

I sighed, half surprised. I knew she could smoke her brains out when she was mad but I never expected her to be this serious. I glared at the brats and noticed how frozen they were, looking back at me. Right, Hanji can be scary and you haven't seen her teaching that goddamned science of hers. I crossed my arms and looked around for a bit, seeing how all the eyes were locked on us. Damn, I hated being stared at. School life sure was lively.

"Eren, you bastard…" Jean mumbled after a while. "You got us in this."

The brunette glared at him. "You called me a son of a bitch… You deserved it. Insult me as much as you want but don't you dare to insult my mother." He was growling again.

"Sure, I'll note that down for next time…"

"What did you say?"

"I believe you two don't know in how much trouble you're in." I finally said, gaining full attention from the four of them. "If you want to skin each other off, you better do that somewhere else. Erwin is not a fan of indiscipline, not in his school, and Hanji is a maniac. If I were you, I'd calm down for the time being."

Jean was holding his face as if he'd lost a bit of his jaw. "Who's Hanji and who are you?" He asked, seeming sort of calm.

I gapped my mouth to reply but the owner of the name replied for me.

"I am Hanji." She said as she stepped towards us with Erwin right behind her.

What followed was what I expected to happen. Erwin gave them one big of a shout, calling out for their conscience and then said he was going to contact their parents for the troubles they had caused during class and for the mess they were in that precise moment. Once he was over he dismissed them and stayed on a long and boring chit chat with Hanji, a chat I didn't take part in. Instead, I simply sat on the bench nearby, trying not to complain about how hungry I was. However, I was interrupted in the exact moment I was starting to stay oblivious about my hunger.

"Are you a teacher as well?" The voice came from the pretty-eyed boy who was now sitting next to me while the raven girl was checking on his hand.

I glanced at Erwin and Hanji and then at the horse face's retreating ass as he dashed into his car, dragging that blonde kid along, before looking again at him. "Do I strike you as a teacher?" I asked, poker facing him completely.

"I don't know… you don't strike me as a student either." He replied, averting his eyes and looking at the girl in front of him. "Mikasa, I told you I'm fine. Let it go…" He complained.

"But Eren…" She tried to get a hold of him but he shoved her away.

"I'm fine!" He shouted, getting a gawk from Erwin's direction. "Shit… I should probably leave."

I muffled a laugh. "You probably should."

He got up and asked the girl for the car keys. I couldn't help but notice they were the owners of the lame car parked right next to Hanji's. Before getting inside, however, the brat gave me a half-hearted smile. I admit I was surprised to see that face of his so relaxed, he was even good-looking if he kept it like that.

When they left, I finally gained guts and got up, grabbing Hanji in the middle of her conversation and taking the keys from her wallet before shoving her in the car. "I'm driving." I said as I closed the door. "Sorry to interrupt but I don't have your life." The glare I gave Erwin was strong enough to slice iron, but the man still took it as a challenge and grinned at me. I ignored his attempt to get me at my worst and got in the car.

As we were driving away, Hanji kept silent for a while. She only spoke when I parked right in front of _Subway_. "Sorry for dragging you into this."

I blinked. "Dragging me into what exactly?"

"Well, I thought I was doing the right thing… getting you two to meet… then the scene at the parking lot… I know you hate those. I'm sorry…"

Sighing was an option but I contained myself. "I'm not mad at you, if that's what you think."

Her face turned to me and I could see her pained expression. "But… like this you won't visit me at school anymore! And that's terrible!"

Right, I was always the one keeping up with her bullshit regarding her researches. "It's fine…" I mumbled before opening the door from my side. "I promise I'll visit. But now… can we just go eat already? I'm starving and I have classes in two hours."

Hanji smiled wider than ever. "Thanks. I'll drive you to college."


End file.
